With organizations making customer experience a priority, the role of customer experience specialist is in high demand. Here are top the 5 skills of a customer experience specialist in 2018.
Customer experience (CX) has become a way to differentiate your brand from your competitors. The quest to deliver top-notch customer service has led to the evolution of a new role – the customer experience specialist. The customer experience specialist is responsible for finding ways to wow the customer during every touchpoint.
Read more: Shopper Experience: el gran problema de Apple que el consumidor terminará por padecer
The job responsibilities of a CX specialist include improving traditional customer service, interacting with clients and customers, mapping out the customer journey and innovating at every touchpoint, every interaction and so on.
With almost every industry looking for qualified CX specialists, if you are looking for opportunities in the CX department, this article will arm you with the right skills you need to master to become a superlative customer experience specialist.
1. Empathy
When experts say, understand the customer journey – what they are essentially saying is, put yourself in your customers’ shoes, think from their perspective. Writing about the customer service aspect of CX, Morgan Norman (CMO, Copper) says, “By letting support reps be as empathetic and, well, human as possible, you’re turning a source of anxiety and frustration into an opportunity to delight customers. You’re giving reps the mandate to focus on customers first and your bottom line second, planting the seeds of a longer, stronger relationship in the process.”
Norman further encourages companies to show off the real people that represent the brand, and build relationships that go beyond the product.
Also Read: 3 Ways to Enhance the Customer Experience Using AI and Machine Learning
2. A Sense of Collaboration
Inter-departmental silos are a big impediment to delivering a good customer experience. The CX specialist of 2018 and beyond must be able to foster the culture of collaboration among different departments to serve customers in a better way.
Kerry Nelson (Senior Director of Global Marketing, Infor) emphasizes the importance of uniting teams that constantly interact with customers. “For a truly unified focus on the customer, it is important for organizations to develop a customer-centric, omni-channel strategy and align every department that touches the customer under one leader, such as a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). The role of the CMO is to bridge the communication among all the teams so that there is clear visibility into plans, execution, and touchpoints across channels.”
Also Read: Does Customer Service Improve Customer Experience?
3. Listening Skills
Being a good listener is about listening to the other person objectively and without judgment. As Stephen R. Covey said, «Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.» People tend to be reactive instead of being proactive while listening to other people. When you truly listen to your customers and listen with empathy, it helps you understand their concerns and expectations. This can further help you communicate with them effectively and improve their overall experience.
“Capture the actual words by sitting in on prospect calls, demos, and meetings. Don’t ask Sales for this information, they are focused on buying signals not tone, body language, semantics, and emotion. Ask marketing or product marketing to be the listener and scribe. Focus on customer segments that represent the company’s future growth areas and listen without prejudice,” says Christine Crandell (President, NBS Consulting Group).
Also Read: Emotion is Essential to Good CX – How You Can ensure It’s Positive
4. Willingness to Adapt
Customer experience is not a one-time activity, but a perpetual process of continuous improvement. To improve, the CX specialist must have knowledge of the market, customers and the product or service. Since marketing in 2018 is part marketing and part technology, the CX specialist must be willing to keep themselves abreast of new developments.
Describing the importance of treating CX as a product, Kelly Brieger (VP of Corporate Marketing, Interana) says, “Viewing CX as a product means understanding fundamental concepts of corporate strategies – products should be customer-driven and built specifically to address needs that have yet to be met, and continuing the enhance the features that provide value.”
Also Read: The Human Touch: Marketers’ Journey to Emotional Connection
5. Relentless Focus on Data
To adapt to the ever-changing environment, you need all the data you can possibly get your hands on and then slice and dice that data intelligently. Successful companies are data-driven. To become a successful customer experience specialist, you need to be fiercely data-driven. Customer experience is all about the details.
John Callan (Vice President of Marketing, Boxever) shares his opinion on this topic by saying, “Everybody’s talking about customer experience these days. Like a flashy new car or a hot new fashion label, CX is ‘in’. That’s why we know that the devil is in the details when it comes to CX. Whether you’re a data scientist yourself, a seasoned customer intelligence expert, or a novice marketing analyst, you’ll need to make regular adjustments to customer outreach so that you are building in the latest insights to make campaigns more relevant.”
Also Read: What’s Next in the Customer Experience (CX) Realm?
Conclusion
Customer experience demands much more than just good customer service. It’s how the brand interacts with its customers at every step of the way. Every point of interaction with the customer is an opportunity to delight them. To be an excellent customer experience specialist in 2018 and beyond, you need the right blend of soft skills (communication skills, leadership skills, and high EQ), tech skills and analytical skills.
What else would you recommend for a budding CX specialist? Tell us in the comments section below.
